Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik’s three-day India visit ending Sunday was described as a “damp squib” by top government sources, who said New Delhi was disappointed at no substantial forward movement on contentious issues like action against Hafiz Saeed, a categorical assurance on giving voice samples of 26/11 accused and a crackdown against terror outfits operating from Pakistani soil.
This despite that the home ministry, based on concrete intelligence inputs, gave fresh details to the Pakistani team on how anti-India terror machinery was flourishing there. Indian agencies gave specific data on at least 15 new terror camps that have opened in Muridke and Muzaffarabad in the past months.
“But Mr Malik and his team continued to live in denial mode, saying the evidence was not concrete enough. We provided exact locations, photographs, in some cases even satellite imagery... What more evidence do they want?” a senior official said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too has deferred his Pakistan visit, and sources said India would first want Pakistan to take concrete action on the 26/11 accused.
Indian intelligence agencies also completely rubbished Mr Malik’s claim of Abu Jundal, a key Lashkar militant, being an Indian agent. Jundal was in the Karachi control room during the 26/11 Mumbai att-ack. Home secretary R.K. Singh described Mr Malik’s claim as “ridiculous”.